The 737 Max Tries To Regain Altitude

After grounding their Boeing 737 Max fleets for most of 2019, airlines expect to resume flying the once-hot-selling plane in early 2020.

- Justin Bachman and Mary Schlangenstein

While that’s good news for carriers that have ordered almost 5,000 of the fuel-sipping jetliners, a big question remains: Will travelers be nervous about flying on an airplane involved in two highly publicized fatal crashes?

Airlines with the 737 Max must convince many customers that the aircraft has been appropriately modified, tested, and certified safe. A monthly survey by UBS of 1,000 people in the U.S. finds that among those who plan to fly, about 15% say they’ll never travel on a Max. The same survey, however, finds that around 65% say they never or seldom check the type of aircraft they’re flying on.

Airlines may take comfort in the poll result, “but that has changed in the short term,” says Michael Gordon, chief executive officer of Group Gordon, which specializes in crisis communications. “It’s not that people care per se which plane they’re flying on, they just want to know if they’re flying on the 737 Max or not. I think consumers will think twice before flying on that plane.”

Regulators grounded the Max on March 13 following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people when the plane’s electronic controls pushed it into steep dives after receiving erroneous sensor data. British tabloids dubbed it the “DEATH JET,” and Boeing on Oct. 18 was further beset by reports that one of its test pilots had difficulties handling the Max during a simulator exercise in 2016. Boeing replaced Kevin McAllister, its commercial planes chief, on Oct. 22.